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PearlsHeard of the Aphrodite Pearl It is a pearl pin, probably one of the oldest existing objects of cultural interest. Dating back from 300 B.C., it was found in Paphos, Cyprus, in the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty. The pin is mounted with a large seawater pearl, 14 millimeters in diameter. Atop this large pearl, is a smaller freshwater pearl, 4 millimeters in diameter. The smaller pearl has withstood the ravages of time better than the larger one of which only half remains. This example of pre-historic pearl lies in the British Museum.
What about the Loch Buy Brooch This ornament of pride (c. 1500) too lies in the British Museum. Made of natural pearls, silver gilt and rock crystal, the brooch once belonged to the Macleans of Loch Buy. It was pinned at the shoulder or chest to anchor the brat (a piece of cloth slung about the body, part of the kilt ensemble) and had a compartment under the rock crystal dome.
Then there was Mary, Queen of Scots, known for her extravagance in jewelry and always abundantly adorned. Of particular fame is her pearl necklace of 34 natural freshwater pearls from the river Tay in Scotland. This exquisite necklace was presented by Queen Mary to the Duke of Norfolk during her imprisonment.
For centuries, pearls have been an integral part of adornment for women as well as for men and sometimes worn with great lavishness and extravagance as is evident from records and paintings of such luminaries as Elizabeth I and other figures of the European Renaissance period.
An unusual gem, the pearl is an embodiment of purity, perfection, elegance and affluence. Apart from the fashion world, anthropologists, zoologists, paleontologists have also shown an all-consuming interest in the pearl world. Their efforts have made a whole lot of information available to us and make us wonder at the intricacies of nature.
Pearls through the ages
The value of pearls and pearl shells was first realized in the Middle Eastern cultures and later spread to the Mediterranean and Persia, where by 100B.C, pearls were the rage. Ample evidence of the use of pearls has been literally dug up at archeological excavation sites in the regions corresponding to the ancient Roman Empire. As some claim, Julius Caesar marched across to invade Great Britain with the intention of amassing wealth in the form of precious freshwater pearls.
In other parts of the world, the pearl, was ignored for its shell! An ordinary mollusk no doubt, yet yielding the luminescent mother of pearl. Till the 19th century, Japanese shell-divers treasured the shells they found and discarded the pearls; pearl oysters were harvested for their shells and the mother-of pearl was used as decoration; abalone shared the same fate and the flesh ended up on the gourmet table. The abundance of pearls in those days could justify the Polynesian children using them as marbles!
Around the 1500s Europe basked in the Renaissance Period. World adventurers set sail from home with the hope of great discoveries. They found and explored the Americas and they found routes leading to the exotic, rich East. Soon, from India, Persian Gulf and the Caribbean, dazzling pearls among other wealth found their way to Europe, feeding the new pearl trade centers, Lisbon and Seville. The Gentiles, or the upper classes of the European community considered the irregular Baroque pearls a must have and a status symbol. However by the turn of the next century, in the 1600s, the tempo with which pearls marched into popularity dropped. This was largely due to religious and political changes as well as a tapering off in pearl supplies from the east.
Meanwhile in the East, there was already a long history of women and men using pearls in the predominant Hindu and Islamic cultures and some of the most priceless varieties from the Black-lipped Pearl Oyster and the Ceylon Pearl Oyster were owned by the Royalty. For some the pearl was a planetary gem while for others it was a symbol of perfection.
Well into the 18th century Russia adhered to the Byzantine tradition of using freshwater pearls very lavishly. The aristocracy manifested their love of pearls in their clothing which was always heavily adorned with the gems, for both men and women alike. Russian noblewomen often wore large headdresses, or kokoshniki, decorated with pearls, lace and colored gemstones.
Mans inherent need to constantly improve, discover and innovate led to newer and improved techniques for faceting gemstones. The glittering, many faceted diamond was gaining favor gradually but the pearl continued to be in use especially with the royalty. It was pearls, pearls everywhere and of every kind for the women of that era. Every conceivable article of jewelry was set with pearls and rich fabrics were enriched further by incorporating pearls into the weave. By the 1800s there was good news for pearl lovers fresh pearl beds were uncovered in the Pacific area and pearls reigned supreme.
In China the scenario was similar to other pearl using regions. Under the patronage of the great Chinese Manchu dynasty, pearls were evident in the royal opulence of the Chinese imperial dcor as well as in the costumes. In fact, the emperor himself was supposed to use only freshwater pearls from Manchuria, the dynasty\'s homeland. But art of the period shows so many big round pearls that at least some probably came from seawater pearl oysters from southern China, Vietnam and perhaps the Philippines.
During the 1700s and the early 1800s pearl jewelry took on a different hue. Seed pearls, imported from India and China were now the choice. Strung on silk or white horsehair, the pieces of jewelry were very delicate and lace-like. As economic prospects for the middle-class in Europe and America were improving, they were now able to afford the luxury of pearls.
In the 1880s, London was the scene of street fashion! Costermongers or street vendors, led by a street sweeper, Henry Croft, began to decorate their clothes with mother of pearl buttons .The Pearly cult was born and soon there were almost 300 such pearly royal figures, smothered in mother-of pearl buttons, reigning over their respective areas!
At the turn of the20th century, industrial progress created huge wealth and ornate style. Society figures in America, Britain and Russia clamored for more pearls. White became the fashion and so the demand for pearls increased along with bows, tassels and motifs in the jewelry designs. By now people began to show off their pearls at informal occasions too. Even the Flappers of the 20s , the swinging girls of that time who smoked, drank, danced and defied anything old-fashioned, wore pearls at their social gatherings.
In 1930 the first Japanese cultured pearls entered the international market but had to struggle initially to make their presence felt. Gabrielle Coco Chanel as well as other designers inadvertently helped to turn the situation around by using these cultured beauties to embellish their creations. By 1950s and for several decades thereafter, pearls became a fashion statement and eventually the inevitable accessory for the fashion conscious in America and Europe.
An interesting point to note is the establishment of the Pearl Button Capital of the World in 1900 .The town in question-Muscataine, Iowa, USA. A German button maker, John Frederick Boepple, settled in the Mississippi River town of Muscatine, Iowa. He set up a mother-of-pearl button factory in 1891, the American pearl mussels coming from nearby rivers and streams. The freshwater pearl button industry in the United States flourished and by 1905 button makers in Muscatine, Iowa, alone produced almost 40 percent of the buttons produced in the entire world. 1916 was the peak year of button production in U.S.A The industry employed 9,500 factory workers and 9,700 mussel fishers.
How are pearls formed
Pearls are formed in living creatures, called mollusks, in marine or freshwater habitats and are therefore categorized as marine or freshwater pearls. Dating back 530 million years, by now there are 100,000 species of mollusks. One in 10,000 of these animals will produce a natural pearl, whereas cultured pearls are produced in larger quantities using modern technology. Pearls are made not only by oysters but also by some clams, conchs, mussels and abalones.
A pearl is formed when a particle or irritant (not only that grain of sand, as the myth goes) is lodged in the soft body of the bi-valve mollusk. This foreign particle could include other stimuli like organic material, parasites, or even damage that displaces mantle tissue to another part of the animal\'s body. The irritant is then coated with layers of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of aragonite or calcite (both crystalline forms of calcium carbonate) cemented by an organic compound called conchiolin. Aragonite and the protein conchiolin are substances also found in the shell of the mollusk. This concentrically layered material, a combination of CACO3 and conchiolin, is called nacre or mother-of-pearl and is crystalline in structure. The prisms in the nacre refract light thus causing all the colors of the rainbow. Interestingly, light is reflected not only from the round surface of the pearl but also form the layers within. This is what lends the pearl its iridescence. Pearls that lack in shine have the aragonite layers arranged perpendicularly.
The exterior of the pearl is rough to the touch. Because of the biological processes involved some imperfections can be seen. Sometimes the layers secreted by the mollusk do not always cover the entire pearl, causing irregularities on the surface. So if you rub a real pearl against your teeth gently it will feel rough while an artificial one will feel smooth.
Pearls are generally thought to be perfect orbs but in reality irregular shapes are more common in natural pearls. Size and shape of a pearl depend on several things such as species of mollusk, time taken for pearl formation, the size and shape of the nucleus or foreign particle and its exact location inside the mollusk, the health of the animal as well as the temperature and chemistry of the water. In the case of cultured pearls, farmers use perfectly spherical nuclei which therefore help to produce perfectly round pearls.
The conchiolin secreted between the layers of white aragonite contains organic pigments giving pearls a range of colors white with a creamy or a pinkish tint. Other hues are yellow blue green, gold, purple, and black. The Black Tahitian Pearl is a famous South Sea pearl.
Obtaining pearls
One of the most important prerequisites for obtaining pearls is skill. For centuries marine pearl divers have braved sharks, poisonous jellyfish and decompression sickness among other dangers to locate pearl oysters found at depths of more than 10 ft. Because of the dangers involved, slaves would be assigned to do the job in some parts of the world. On the other hand freshwater pearl oysters were easier to gather as they existed in the shallow rivers and streams.
The pearl beds of the Indian Ocean, especially in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the Gulf of Mannar(between India and Sri Lanka), have dominated the international pearl trade till the 20th century. In spite of this, these areas continue to have a healthy mollusk population. However in more recent times oil seems to be a more lucrative source of employment for the inhabitants here. In America it was the pearl rush in the mid 1800s while in Europe the pearl beds of rivers Tay and Isla in Scotland were famous
The modern practice of grafting or pearl culturing is both a perfected art, involving delicate surgery on the mollusk. Specially trained professionals known as grafters insert nuclei and tissue grafts into anesthetized mollusks using medical instruments and antibiotics. They must work quickly to prevent the animals from dehydrating during the operation and also accurately to prevent excessive bleeding. Off the northwestern coast of Australia, wild Silver-lipped Pearl Oysters are collected for the purpose of grafting.
Pearls are judged according to luster, color, size, shape, surface and iridescence. Although mollusks do most of the work of making pearls, humans have devised techniques to improve the quality of pearls or to introduce effects not found in nature. Such methods range from simple washing and buffing to more elaborate treatments such as exposing pearls to radiation or faceting them.
Special concern
Centuries of pearl harvesting has resulted in the inevitable a drastic decline in pearl bearing oysters. Other factors contributing to the decline are habitat destruction, human interference such as dredging and damming of water bodies containing pearl beds, declining water quality and competition from newly introduced species. In North America, government regulations and a ban on pearl fishing in certain areas are efforts in the right direction.
In Japan, Ago bay, the center of the cultured Akoya pearls, pioneered by Kokichi Mikimoto went through a difficult period in 1994. Red Tide a crop of microscopic toxin producing animals in the ocean caused large scale oyster deaths. Currently, production is just a quarter of what it was in 1995 and there is a shortage of the most desirable Akoya pearls. Scientific investigation for the specific cause of the disease continues.
According to legend, Cleopatra dissolved one of her pearl earrings in wine and drank it.
Not surprising, because pearl really does dissolve in wine or vinegar but only if in a powdered state. Being mostly calcium, dissolved pearl or very tiny beads of pearl have served as medicine in Medieval Europe. In Asia it is still a part of traditional medication.
Pearls, with their history, beauty and science, will always continue to be traditional symbols of health, wealth and status. Wearers will enjoy an elegance added to stature and beholders will feel the magnetic allure of pearls.
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